Resources for Worship, Leadership, and Congregational Health

September 04, 2013

Individuals Do Not Worship, Cultures Do

Look inside any synagogue, temple or church and "Individuals do not worship, cultures do" seems patently stupid. Those places are full of individuals, not cultures.

But "religions" are not sets of beliefs, they are sets of practices - habits of behaviours, attitudes, and expectations. And the deep habits - the ones we don't even notice because they are just so much a part of who we are, what we do - are instilled in us from birth by the culture we live in.

We learn more than just "religious" habits from our culture: What does it mean to be a good citizen? A good worker? A good lover? A good parent? A good person? Etc. Etc. But our culture does also teach us: What does it mean to be a good religious person?

Our culture may not teach us the specifics of a faith, but it will teach us things like: A good religious person regularly goes to worship. A good religious person prays. A good religious person reads and memorizes holy texts. A good religious person gives money. Etc. Etc.

Or our culture may teach us: A good religious person keeps their religion to themselves. A good religious person does not expect their religion to be mentioned in public by others, except possibly to be mocked. A good religious person knows that what they believe is just their private personal opinion (like preferring punk-rock to rap, for example), and is not part of any shared reality (like gravity for example). A good religious person expects to be a silenced, invisible, minority.

Individuals who are part of the first culture may go to worship, because even before they get there they already know why they are going - without even really thinking about it!

But individuals who who are part of the second culture will almost never go to worship, because even before they do something else they already know why they are not going to worship - without even really thinking about it!